Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel (22 October 1903 - 3 June 1994) freedom fighter, a Gandhian,. Tribhuvandas Patel's single quality that stands out is his utter dislike for self promotion, a quality that many admire in the numerous institutions he built and served.

Early life and participation in freedom struggle

Born on 22 October 1903, in Anand, Gujarat, to Kishibhai Patel, Tribhuvandas became a follower of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

during the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

, and especially the civil disobedience movements, which led to his repeated imprisonment in 1930, 1935 and 1942.

Cooperative movement

He is known as the father of the cooperative movement in India. By the late 1940s, he started working with farmers in

Kheda district Kheda District is one of the thirty-three districts of Gujarat state in western India. Its central city, Kheda, is the administrative headquarters of the district. History Formerly known as Kaira district, it was divided in two with the sou ...

, under the guidance of

, and after setting up the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producer's Union in 1946 under his chairmanship, he hired a young manager named Verghese Kurien in year 1950,who was instrumental in developing the technical and marketing strategies of the Union which was eventually called Amul. Verghese Kurien remained the general manager of Amul till 2005. Under Tribhuvandas Patel's leadership and guidance and together with Verghese Kurien, many organizations were started in Anand including the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation,

National Dairy Development Board The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is a statutory body set up by an Act of the Parliament of India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying of the Government of India. The main office is in Ana ...

and

Institute of Rural Management Anand Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) is an autonomous institution and premier business school located in Anand Gujarat, India with the mandate of contributing to the professional management of rural organizations. IRMA was founded with the ...

. The relationship between Tribhuvandas and Kurien was one of teacher and pupil, architect and builder and almost father and son. Kurien was very dear to Tribhuvandas, he trusted Kurien above all and in his eyes and mind, Kurien could do no wrong. The fruits of their work are still hanging from the trees planted 75 years ago. Tribhuvandas Patel was awarded the 1963 Ramon Magsaysay Award for ' Community Leadership', together with

Dara Nusserwanji Khurody Dara Nusserwanji Khurody (2 January 1906 – 1 January 1983) was an Indian entrepreneur known for his contributions to the dairy industry of India. He worked in various private and government organization at the start of his career and also held ...

, and Verghese Kurien.,Biography of ''Tribhuvandas K. Patel''
''

Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation The Ramon Magsaysay Award ( Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic ideali ...

'' Official website. and the

Padma Bhushan The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...

from the

Govt. of India The Government of India ( ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in 1964. He remained Secretary/President of the

Pradesh Congress Committee The elected committee that directs the Indian National Congress in an Indian state is known as Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). It is elected by card-holding members of the Congress and in turn elects state president and delegates to the All I ...

(PCC),

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(

Congress I Indian National Congress (Requisitionists) was created in 1969; it was created and led by Indira Gandhi. Initially this party was known as Congress (R), but it soon came to be generally known as the New Congress or Syndicate. The letter 'R' st ...

), and also a member of

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

twice, 1967–1968 and 1968 -1974 from the party. Under the selfless leadership of Tribhuvandas Patel, in August 1973, Amul celebrated its 25th anniversary with

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...

Maniben Patel Maniben Patel (3 April 1903 — 26 March 1990) was an Indian independence movement activist and a Member of the Indian parliament. She was the daughter of freedom fighter and post-Independence Indian leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Educated in ...

and Verghese Kurien. When he voluntarily retired from the Chairmanship of AMUL, in the early 1970s, he was presented with a purse of six hundred thousand rupees, by the grateful members of the village cooperatives — one rupee per member being the contribution. He used this fund to start a charitable trust, named the

Tribhuvandas Foundation 'Tribhuvandas Foundation'' is a public Charitable trust working with the AMUL milk cooperatives in and around Kheda district of Gujarat. Its mission is to work for betterment of health in rural communities of Central Gujarat. History The Tribhu ...

- an

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

to work on women and child health in Kheda district. He was the first Chairman of

. He handed over the chairmanship to Verghese Kurien, when the organization started to grow quickly, after receiving funds from foreign grant s. The former chairperson of the National Dairy Development Board, Dr.(Ms) Amrita Patel assessed

in an international workshop.

, which is Asia’s largest NGO, works in over 600 villages in the State in the field of maternal and infant care. What is unique about the programme of the Foundation is that it rides on the back of milk. It is the village milk co-operative that appoints a village health worker and pays an honorarium to the village health worker to undertake the work. So it is milk paying for health." Tribhuvandas Patel worked tirelessly till the last day of his life. He was working to setup cooperative organizations for farming commodities such as oil. In the days leading to his passing on June 3, 1994, thousands of farmers from all over Kaira visited him, assuring him that the movement started in 1946 will continue forever. In these last days, he frequently asked about Kurien who, despite the urgency conveyed to him, never visited him before his passing. In his last moments, it was Kurien on his mind and therefore in the eyes of many, for Kurien to not visit him, felt like a betrayal of ultimate magnitude. There are many powerful stories about Tribhuvandas that have not been heard and there can be many reasons (e.g. stories are written in Gujarati) but certainly it is not due to lack of stories. Tribhuvandas Patel was presented with a purse of six hundred thousand rupees by the members of the village cooperatives, as one rupee per member of the society, as a contribution when he voluntarily retired from the Chairmanship of AMUL, in the early 1970s,thanking him for his efforts. Among the various contributions of Tribhuvandas, an important contribution occurred in an area that he had little time and interest for.

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

was making a biographical film on his mentor

titled

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been ...

. The film was almost complete but was shelved because of some financial difficulty. Tribhuvandas made the financial contributions necessary to have the film completed and released. It is unknown if he watched the film as it was released towards the last years of his life but the release of film exposed the many events that occurred around the time of India's independence, events and facts that were never known to general public. In particular, the illustration of power and sacrifices of

Sardar Patel Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...

, who most Indians today feel was the greatest leader that India ever produced.

Awards and honours

* 1963: Ramon Magsaysay Award for ' Community Leadership' * 1964:

Personal life

He was married to Shrimati Mani Laxmi, and had one daughter and six sons. He had several grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

References

External links